Reply To: Spiritual atheist.
If by spiritual you mean being aware of the kinds of interactions and connections you have with others and trying to understand how to better relate with others (with some help with epirical research) including some proven forms of meditation and breathing/stretching exercises…exposing yourself to as many experiences as possible, trying to stay positive and find landscapes and skyscapes and art and music and cinema and theatre and bonfires and cloud formations and animal watching that puts you in awe…I wouldnt call that spiritual but “personal development with a taste for the awesome”.
If by spiritual you mean chanting specific phrases, checking up on your chi and aura while sipping walrus saliva tea to cleanse your karma while someone sticks frozen needles into the chakra zones of you temples…then I would call that spiritual. I am amazed at how many atheists the are who are this kind of spiritual..but there is no reason they cannot or should not exist. An atheist does not believe in god. That is all. An atheist can do a whole variety of kooky irrational woo and still be an atheist. Should an atheist be like this? I wouldn’t recommend it…but who are we to tell which delusions an atheist should embrace?
